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Short of a list of hobbies that I am sure this will turn into, I am really interested in what else inerests your musical minds. Not just your hobbies, but what you really take an active interest in and do or read about or research on a daily basis that is not music-related.For me:CookingWineAnimalsWorld events/news- major news&NPR addict.

Interesting. I am neither Mathmatically or Scientifically inclined- unless the chemistry that it takes to cook counts, which I doubt. My husband is an engineer with a math minor. Good thing we have other things to talk about.

Crypotology, Cosmology (guess that comes under the physics), Reading (anyone read 'A Crack In Forever'? It could well be one of the best books I've ever read.), Cooking (something else we have in common Jamie ), Engineering, Cars, and Politics.

My other major interest other than piano (more so actually) is flying. I already have my private pilot license and my glider license, and I'm going for my commercial license this year in my college program.

Volleyball - Varsity defensive specialistHistory - I like European HistoryOrigami - I dabble in itWriting - I just love writingCooking - I cooked Thanksgiving dinner this year!Art - My dad and sister are artists, so I have a natural inclination towards artPhotoshop - I use it almost everyday to design things for school and friends

Bike Riding - Local longdistance out and back type rides that include a stop somewhere for an icecream

Hiking - Where I live, I like to hike the trails through the local town forest, and I've climbed up a couple of local mountains. One in Western Mass, athe other in New Hampshire.

Model Railroading - I have an extensive N-scale collection, and I also play with Trainz a virtual model railroad. Trainz is really addictive and can eat into piano time. Currently my real model trains are packed up because of house renovations.

Reading - Science fiction and history.

Traveling - Been to Great Britian and France for pleasure, traveled to Taiwan for business. If someone offered me another trip like those, I would run out right away and renew my passport.

Computers and Technology - I've worked in a technical field for more than twenty-five years, so I've grown to love the geeky stuff. My day job is a network adminstrator so I get to play a lot with different programs and stuff.

I'm a frustrated archeologist - my fantasy job would be a human remains specialist - (since I don't have the talent to be a concert pianist!)I also love scary & mystery novels and photography (particulary antique stereoviews which I collect and sell on ebay.) I also write a bit myself.

reading - anything other than thrillers and science fiction. I want to read all the great classics, have already read, for example Sense and sensibility from Jane Austen, the Great Gatsby, War and Peace by Tolstoy...

Let's see...piano takes up most of my time these days but I have large enough list of other "hobbies" to keep me busy when music frustrates me:

Working out (mostly cardio work like cycling, rowing, jogging, soccer occassionally)

Chess (aside from playing I also like "playing through" the games of great masters and analysing the positions and so forth)

Reading (I'm also into the "great classics" and always try to have at least one book going)

Movies (One of my possible careers, at least so far, is as a film director, and I look up to the likes of Kubrick, Tarantino, Stone, etc. I'm also a fan of film noir, and my favorite kind of movies are meaningful dramas that don't take themselves *too* seriously--like Kubrick's)

Philosophy (pretty self explanatory I guess)

History (I might end up teaching this for a career, but hopefully at a university level. Right now I'm studying Irish and Russian history, and am also reading Herodotus' "The Histories" which is simply fascinating)

Writing (well, sort of...when I was 10-11, I wrote a 300 page science fiction/espionage novel (and, incidentally, it's really awful, except for the last 50 pages, which I added when I was 15), and kind of burned myself out, but I have a long list of ideas for novels which I could write if I had time and motivation to do so. Other than that, I do actually enjoy writing papers for classes.)

Politics (I'm only starting to get into this, however, and more than Politics I'm really just into Foreign Affairs--and I do subscribe to that publication...good stuff!)

Traveling (I'm not very well developed though, having gone to about half of the United States, the UK including England, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, Canada, and France...there are just too many other places I want to go!)

I'm also pretty into physics, namely cosmology, relativity, and all that hoo-hah, but I don't have the math brain to seriously comprehend it all, so I stay away from the "real" physics and just focus on the concepts. I really enjoy it though.

Oh and the last one I can think of is, every now and then I'll pick up a computer game and work through it when I don't feel like doing anything else. Right now I'm doing "Neverwinter Nights"--I tend to like RPGs the most--has anyone here played it?

Oh, so much to do, so little time.I enjoy cooking, gardening, reading, theater, opera, travel. And the rest of the time goes to find out if Anastasia really was the last grand Duchess. No wonder my piano playing suffers!

Languages (English, spanish, latin and a little bit of gaelic)Writing (both music and "literature")Boxing (Been in two competitions)Sax (love it almost as much as piano)Reading (I own over 1000 books and have read most of them twice. Libraries are my second home.)Lord of the Rings (Nothin' like them!)

I spent 4 weeks in London, and then traveled by train to Liverpool to look up my Great Great Grandmother. The city magistrates couldn't locate any birth records for her because they were destroyed in the war, but the trip was fun anyway.

I also traveled on the Southern line to Hastings and along the south coast, stopping at Bournemouth and Portsmouth just for the fun of it. I like trains, and anything else on steel rails, so this was a lot of fun.

While I was there, I also did the regular tourist thing and visited a bunch of museums, including the Victoria & Albert where the the original Italian Virginal is that my instrument is based on.

I tried to visit the RCM, but they were closed. I intended on inquiring about studying there back then.

One of my tourist days included a trip up to Bath to see the Roman baths and visit the city in general. I love architecture, and this was a personal thrill for me.

If someone offered me a ticket to Great Britian, I'd go back in a heart beat.

I play a lot of golf (handicap is around 15) and read a lot of science fiction. Currently working on Stephen Baxter's "Vacuum Diagrams," and Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" is waiting on the shelf.

"If we continually try to force a child to do what he is afraid to do, he will become more timid, and will use his brains and energy, not to explore the unknown, but to find ways to avoid the pressures we put on him." (John Holt)

Well, piano, of course, but besides that...Just started playing french horn and love itClarinet (don't love it so much, but play it in the school band)Reading-anythingAnimals-volunteer at the local shelterKids-I love kids! Is that so strange?PhotographyBike ridingClimbing-rock, but also trees-I don't think that really qualifies, but I do like doing it...Art-painting, drawing, writing, pottery, pretty much anything that creates

Think of the fierce energy concentrated in an acorn! You bury it in the ground, and it explodes into an oak! Bury a sheep, and nothing happens but decay. ~George Bernard Shaw